She said he "could not explain in any logical manner why he himself did not seek to introduce forensic evidence of the lack of assault to help show that the children were lying."

A spokeswoman for the Essex County prosecutor said they had not decided whether to retry Iadipaoli, 43, who could be out of prison in days.

"This is the sort of case that makes people sick. The judges hates you, prosecutor hates you, the public hates you and other defense lawyers hate you," said Lichtman, famous for winning John A. (Junior) Gotti the first of his four hung juries.

"Defense lawyers would rather represent a white-collar fraudster who stole $100 million," Lichtman said. "But it shows that no matter how deep a hole you are in ... if you work, you can persevere."